Monday, June 29, 2009

College Radio Tidbits: Onion's College Radio DJ Profile, Florida College Radio Tops Lists, KSJS College Radio Memories

A few college radio tidbits to share:

Miami Column Tracks College Radio Top 10A new column in the Miami New Times Crossfade blog called "Dialed In" is chronicling top 10 lists from college radio stations in the South Florida area, including WVUM ("the Voice" at University of Miami), WNSU ("Radio X" at Nova Southeastern University), and WRGP ("Radiate" at Florida International University).

KSJS Radio Memories from the 1980sI just ran across an a letter to the editor from 2007 in the San Jose Mercury that provides some nice reminiscences from DJs who were at San Jose State's college radio station KSJS in the 1980s.

"During the 1980-1985 years, a bunch of SJSU misfits came together to work at the college radio station, KSJS.

For many of us, we were shy and hadn't felt like we belonged anywhere else. After four years, we became the best of friends and many marriages even emerged from those bonds. Who knew that from that first time we flirted at the KSJS recording studio, my husband and I would now be celebrating our 20-year anniversary. Back then we were late night on-air DJ's (Dede K and Mark Anthony). Today, my husband, who was the more talented one, is currently the news/traffic reporter at KFRC.

Our group of 16 KSJS friends calls ourselves the 'Brew Crew.' (Mainly for the amount of alcohol we consumed at the time.) We have amazing stories to tell - like the times we finagled our way into the SJSU television studios from 2-5 a.m. and made bootleg MTV music videos and our annual SuperBowl Brew Crew parties.

Dede and Mark Nieto, Walnut Creek"

"College Radio DJ Thinks He Has Cult Following" (the Onion)Oh my goodness, this satirical piece in the Onion poking fun of an influential college radio DJ takes me back to around 2001 when they did a similar profile of "Record Store Girl," a hipster who made all the college radio boys swoon. In their profile of DJ Jordan Haley (supposedly of WEIU at Eastern Illinois University):

"'I'm always mixing it up,' Haley said...'I challenge my audience, and that's why people respond to my show. My success should prove to other radio stations that people don't want to be spoon-fed their music.'

Though 'Rock Blossom' is heard mainly by his girlfriend and a handful of friends who request songs while they get stoned, Haley said his show is distinctive because of his personality...

Another quality that sets Haley apart is his encyclopedic knowledge of underground music.

'A lot of DJs think that if they know Rocket From The Crypt or Burning Airlines, they're up on the alt-rock scene–whatever that is,' Haley said. 'I was the one who introduced Black Dice, The Mink Lungs, and The (International) Noise Conspiracy to the people of the Charleston metro area, so it's understandable why my show would be bigger than [fellow WEIU DJ] Eric [Poppel]'s.'"